Today I'd like to offer the ideas of several people with whom I am often in contact at least electronically. Both of the items that I will post today came across the Assessment Reform Network email list of
FairTest. The first will be a suggestion of things people can do, and given that NCLB (No Child Left Behind) is due for reauthorization next year is fairly important.
The second is from someone who teaches Social Foundations of Education at Monmouth University who also blogs extensively about education.
In addition I will off a few comments of my own where appropriate.
I am asking that this be recommended to that all interested in education will see it. I rarely directly ask for recommends, but because this is directed towards action, on this occasion I do so.
The following is from Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest. The only changes I have made is to remove the phone numbers, put the actual 7 ways into a separate blockquote within the blockquote, and to modify the email so that it cannot be used by a bot:
We at FairTest have been asked over time for a short list of things that folks can do. Here is a possible list.
It is not at all an exhaustive list of things to do - the recent actions of students in opposition to the proposed immigration laws show us again that a wide range of activity can be used in powerful ways - but it could be used to get people thinking, especially people not used to taking action. We will fill this out with more details and post it to our website in the near future. Comments are welcome. Monty
Seven Ways to Work for NCLB Reform
1) Hold a public forum in your community to discuss NCLB.
2) Persuade your organizations to pass resolutions calling for reform of NCLB:
- Endorse the Joint Organizational Statement on NCLB (at
http://www.fairtest.org/...
see 'alternatives')
- Collect signatures on the Petition to Reform NCLB;
http://www.fairtest.org/...
- Publicize your results in the local media and send copies of resolutions and petitions to your local and federal elected officials.
3) Write letters-to-the-editor and op-ed pieces for your local and regional newspapers.
4) Get your local school board to pass a resolution or hold a community forum about NCLB.
5) Contact your U.S. senators and representatives about changing NCLB: Call them, write or email them (send clips and information), and set up meetings with them in your district (bring a group).
6) Contact your state legislators to enlist them in the effort to reform NCLB; get state legislatures to pass resolutions
7) Parents: Join the NCLB-mandated Parents Advisory Board at your child's school.
Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Executive Director
FairTest
342 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
monty at fairtest dot org
When I would read this, I thought of one slight change to item 5 above -- that is also to contact those running for US Senate and House, since as I noted NCLB is up for reauthorization next year. We need to raise the profile of this as a campaign issue.
If you would like donate to Fairtest to support their work, click here
The second piece, by Jim Horn, offers 20 arguments you can use in favor of total elimination of No Child Left Behind, as well as 10 action strategies. These can also be read in a post at Jim's website, School Matters.
I have put the arguments and strategies in separate block quotes in order to allow me to offer separate comments.
First, the arguments:
20 Reasons to Eliminate NCLB
1. An education policy built on impossible performance demands that assure the failure of the majority of American public schools should be eliminated, not reformed.
2. An education policy that has the same impossible demands for most English-language learners and special education students should be eliminated, not reformed.
3. An education policy that traumatizes children, destroy the desire to learn, and corrupts the purposes for learning should be eliminated, not reformed.
4. An education policy that uses fear, intimidation, and retribution as motivation should be eliminated, not reformed.
5. An education policy that uses a single assessment once a year to make life-altering decisions should be eliminated, not reformed.
6. An education policy that ignores poverty as a chief determinant in academic performance should be eliminated, not reformed.
7. An education policy that creates two different school curriculums, one for the children of the poor and one for well-funded successes, should be eliminated, not reformed.
8. An education policy that uses skewed and manipulated research from the National Reading Panel to devise a national reading strategy should be eliminated, not reformed.
9. An education policy that uses the strain of test score competition to undercut public cohesion and civic commitment to democratic goals should be eliminated, not reformed.
10. An education policy that shrinks the American school curriculum to two or three subjects that are tested should be eliminated, not reformed.
11. An education policy that discourages diversity and encourages homogeneity in schools should be eliminated, not reformed.
12. An education policy that supports the use of tax dollars to fund private schools rather than public school improvement should be eliminated, not reformed.
13. An education policy that advocates the use of public money to pay private contractors to run public schools should be eliminated, not reformed.
14. An education policy that is built on unfunded and under-funded mandates should be eliminated, not reformed.
15. An education policy that reduces or eliminates local and state decision making by citizens should be eliminated, not reformed.
16. An education policy that mandates that military recruiters have access to student information should be eliminated, not reformed.
17. An education policy that inflames a teacher shortage in order to replace professional teachers with individuals who have passed a teaching test should be eliminated, not reformed.
18. An education policy that is used to reward tax dollars to insiders and cronies for their political support should be eliminated, not reformed.
19. An education policy that uses paid propaganda to advance its agenda should be eliminated, not reformed.
20. An education policy that puts test scores in the place of the intellectual, social, and emotional growth of America's children should eliminated, not reformed.
Jim is not necessarily arguing for elimination of Federal support for K-12 public education. His position is that NCLB is so flawed that it cannot be reformed. He wants a totally different approach to government support of education. If one looks at the arguments above one should realize that there are so many inherent flaws and downright wrong approaches in NCLB that it is pointless to try to address them one at a time.
There may be a few references which are not clear to people who do not closely follow education policy. I will not attempt to address them at this point. Since I am now on Spring break, I will be able to closely monitor this diary. Anything someone does not understand should be raised in a comment and I will attempt to offer an explanation.
And now Jim's suggested action strategies.
Action Strategies
1) Hold a public forum in your community to explain these 20 points.
2) Persuade your organizations to pass resolutions calling for the repeal of NCLB based on these points.
3) Collect signatures on a Petition to Eliminate NCLB based on these 20 points. Publicize your results in the local media and send copies of resolutions and petitions to your local and federal elected officials.
3) Write letters-to-the-editor and op-ed pieces for your local and regional newspapers, making these points.
4) Get your local school board to pass a resolution or hold a community forum about eliminating NCLB.
5) Contact your U.S. senators and representatives about eliminating NCLB: Call them, write or email them (send these points and other information), and set up meetings with them in your district (bring a group of children).
6) Contact your state legislators to enlist them in the effort to eliminate NCLB; get state legislatures to pass resolutions.
7) Parents: Join the NCLB-mandated Parents Advisory Board at your child's school. Bring the 20 Reasons to Eliminate NCLB to begin a dialogue.
8). Organize a public protest on test days or days given over to test preparation.
9). Contact organizations such as ACT and MoveOn to get the 20 Reasons established as an action item.
10). Organize community and neighborhood potluck dinners with teachers and parents to talk together about how NCLB is affecting children and school.
And yes, I am quite well aware that there are two #3s, and thus apparently 11 actions strategies. If you look carefully, the two items lists as #3 are actually both part of the original #3 in in Monty's list. What Jim has done is expand and slightly modify Monty's original list. Remember, he did post this on his website.
I think in general Jim's analysis of the flaws is pretty much on target, and I agree with the suggestions of both Monty and Jim as to the actions we - and should - take. In my own case I have chosen to focus on public officials and those seeking public office as what I do out of the public sphere, and using whatever writing talents I have to help educate the larger public through blogging. But not everyone we need to reach follows these issues electronically. We need to speak at public meetings, write op-ed pieces, write Letters to the Editor, contact public officials, communicate through our PTA organizations. The possibility of more direct does remain - that is the reference to what we have seen on immigration reform. I would argue that at this point a mass movement of students walking out on tests would probably neither be widespread nor particularly effective, and in light of the ongoing political campaign season could well be counterproductive. Thus I would not encourage such action nor would I myself participate at this time. I believe that it is possible to reach a sufficient level of opposition to NCLB in its current structure to achieve major change and possibly almost complete replacement.
Time is of the essence. The DOE and its commercial supporters have already wound up their version of the Mighty Wurlitzer. You are regularly seeing "news" pieces about successes of NCLB, or implying that DOE will make modifications -- all of this is an attempt to defuse criticism, especially given how much the recent scoring problems of SAT have demonstrated the fallibility of our testing systems.
Read Jim's criticisms carefully. This is about much more than tests. I have written on a number of these subjects in the past. I firmly believe that the battle over education is a battle for the very future of this nation as a democratic republic in which all citizens and future citizens have the opportunity to raise themselves up. Absent a meaningful and effective public educational system we will continue our current downward spiral into extreme inequality and see continuous erosion of our basic liberties and rights.
Let me close with the last sentence of the email Jim Horn sent me to give me permission to post his piece
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